a swift one - Love Music : Love Beer
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The Revolutions Brewing Company has been crafting music-inspired beers since October 2010 and supply beer directly to most of West & South Yorkshire, York & Selby and parts of North & East Yorkshire.Their cask and bottled beers have been enjoyed across most of the UK and the latter have been enjoyed in many parts of Europe.
I first met Andrew Helm and Mark Seaman at the Wakefield CAMRA beer festival in November 2009. They were soon to start a new brewery in the area with several unique selling points based on music.
They had met at a business seminar in early 2009 and found that they shared an interest in both beer and music. Subsequently and not surprisingly, they met up a number of times to discuss these and the idea of starting a brewery cropped up on more than one occasion. It was over a pint in Tetley Dave’s Shoulder of Mutton in Castleford that Andrew (a keen home brewer with a Brewlab course behind him) and Mark (for many years a quality control consultant in the Middle East) decided to become business partners and launch Revolutions Brewery.
It was not long before they came up with the unique selling point of brewing beers to strengths based on record speeds – 3.3%, 4.5% and 7.8% and linking them to some of their favourite record titles.
They began brewing by “Cuckoo Brewing” at Brass Monkey Brewery in Sowerby Bridge. Because they liked dark beers and there was a demand, the first beers were dark, thus distinguishing them from the “light and hoppy” brews from many other West Yorkshire breweries. Perhaps the most well known and extremely tasty of these was Clash London Porter weighing in at 4.5% ABV.
In June 2011 Andrew and Mark secured premises at Whitwood, Castleford and installed an eight barrel David Porter kit and the first brew followed in July. The local hard water was soon found to be ideal for mid-brown beers including the unique Kraftwerk Braun Ale (4.5% ABV) made with German hops and yeast.
Due to the brewery’s success (including deals with Nicholson’s and Market Town Taverns) the neighbouring unit was purchased in May and Paul Marshall (of Lone Wolf fame) has been taken on part-time and to model t-shirts. Sadly, I failed the audition!
They now brew two to three times a week producing both a core range and a series of one off specials accompanied by fabulous artwork close to that of the original record sleeves.
In addition to the usual real ale outlets, Revolutions support local bands, music venues and special events with unique beers, thereby introducing both their beers and favourite music to the new wave of modern vinyl junkies.
The guys are not averse to collaborations, the most recent being the two with another music aficionado Malcolm Bastow, the head brewer at Five Towns. Together they have created the David Bowie LP inspired Scary Monsters Black IPA and Super Creeps Pale Beer. On a recent interview on Radio Leeds, Malcolm stated that they should be tried together and compared which can be done at the Wakefield CAMRA beer festival at the Space on Waldorf Way from next Thursday.
LOVE BEER : LOVE MUSIC
BFH
www.revolutionsbrewing.co.uk
www.wakefieldcamra.org.uk/festival
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